Monday, December 21, 2009

Watch what you wish for

I'm going to condense here because I'm writing this on 2 hours sleep which is where I can go once I'm done with this post so you see my motivation. Sheesh this rambles a bit but you will get it.

I was in Austin for a holiday party and was talking to another super individual(s) about the whole blogging thing and how to gauge what to write etc, and my point was I try to make blogs when something interesting happens. Well, as they say, watch what you wish for.

So this story begins on Sunday and is currently running it's course as I write (you read) it. For those of you who don't know we (we meaning me and Em) moved here in order to help my mom with her ranch and to make sure if anything happens that we are there to help. Now, with all of that foreshadowing out of the way this particular headline reads: Mom went down on Sunday with sharp pains in her lower abdomen while doing nothing more than conversing with a neighbor and exchanging Christmas gifts. As it turns out Christmas is to blame! /shakes fist. Ok settle down, no it's not, just keep reading.

While she was waving goodbye to her good friend an acute pain hit her in the lower abdomen. My mom isn't in the best of health but is still pretty good for the things she does every day so this general pain could have been almost anything. Of course initially she resisted calling EMS however she was quickly overruled and a call to 911 was made. I heard the call go out on the radio and knew help was on the way. Because we are part of the fire department we kind of know where stuff will come from and have a pretty solid idea of how long something will take to get to you. Then again if it's a busy night you might be in trouble, but it was a Sunday night in paradise and it was apparently quiet on the chaos front. Besides I think the Cowboys were playing so the streets were empty like the rapture had occurred.

It was 3pm when she went down. We were picked up by EMS at about 3:40 and transferred to the helipad in Tarpley where Airflight was inbound to take her to San Antonio. The reason she was going this way was because everyone agreed that she was waning and time was of the essence. See, driving would have been a good 1 1/2 hours of travel/handling time, so as the crow flies was the best choice.

As always a tip of the hat to the EMS folk, the helicopter crew, and the Tarpley VFD and Especially Doug the EMT as everything went off without a hitch and she left the ground with them a little after 4pm. We drove to the hospital and arrived a bit after 5pm where we finally located her in the Adult ER. They had started prepping her and had called a vascular Dr. already so he was on the way by the time we got parked and located her. Then almost as quick they left with her for a CT scan which only took about 30 minutes.

Around 7-ish we met with the Dr who asked many questions and made many notes. The scan had showed up with what he perceived to be a burst artery that she had a surgery on in the 80's. So life threatening it was and something had to be done. Of course in an instant it was decided to operate and a team would be assembled for the deed. Again what seemed to be a short amount of time passes and some people start showing up wearing scrubs and introducing themselves with a lead in like "I'm (insert name) and I'll be handling (insert critical job thing) tonight, so how are we feeling?"...

Now we are on the move and it is about 8:15pm. We've seen these people enough now to seem familiar and they escort the bed mom is in to a huge elevator where we are told a fun fact about the cost to the hospital being 1 million dollars when it was built. Which of course was meant to cut some of the stress hanging in the air, and I have to say it did for a moment for as soon as the doors opened we would be separated and our fates still intermingled would take different paths but I was all 'Damn! elevators are flippin' expensive yo! But let's keep it moving...

The vascular operation rooms are up on 5 and they went left and we went right. They to do what they do and us to do only what we can do, wait. We were told that this would probably take around 2 to 2 1/2 hours to complete if everything went well, but you know. Yeah, you do.

At about 11:30pm we got a call that everything was going well and they would be closing up in about an hour. Wow, that was a good phone call. Get some of those if you can.

After about an hour and a half the original Dr met us in the waiting room. The surgery was a success and she was being transferred to Surgical Intensive Care Unit for recovery and we are to go up there to wait for them to let us in to see her.

After about an hour we were called in by a nurse and saw mom surrounded by the set from Star Trek. She looked like she was sleeping and chewing on some licorice (more tubes). All bundled up you could see many wires and tubes eminating from her from all directions hooked up to all manner of machine. I think the machine that went 'PING' was there as well.

She was out like potatoes so we chatted with the nurse on duty at that point about next steps, expectations etc. If she did well through the rest of the night they could take the breathing tube out and she could be awake as early as later that day. Good. Yep it was.

At this point it is 3am and we dragged ourselves out in to the cold night to make the trip back out to the sticks. We arrive out here after 4am. Foof it's late and it's cold. We feed the dogs and get ready for bed to get as much sleep as possible. This will turn out to be 2 hours for me and 3 hours for Em.

And speaking of the phrase that pays I am headed off to go to sleep. I'll do more tomorrow to catch you up but know that she has been doing very well and already is breathing on her own. She should be in a room as soon as Wednesday, maybe even Tuesday. We'll see.

Sorry to cut you off short but I need some sleep as tomorrow will also be a long one. Thanks for coming, talk to you soon, maybe tomorrow night even.

Netflix Movie Reviews

Eureka - Nerds gone wild. High tech science run amok with a bewildered sherrif attempting to hold it all together. Was pretty good, but is over now. Sigh.

Bob's Burgers - 2 seasons are on Netflix and I think they are funny. From the crew that brought you Home Movies a burger restauranteur is dealing with family and business issues. Animated.

Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino strikes again with a movie of pre civil war south. Gore is good.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil - a real mainstream weekend funny movie. I have to admit I did find it entertaining.

Dead Man - painful and slow. But in a way the good kind of pain, although it did drag a bit.

The IT Crowd - A BBC comedy of 2 IT guys and their new boss who has no clue about computers. The characters make this one for me, and Emiloo laughed at their hijinx as well. Although the owner of the company heavy episodes were less entertaining.

Mars - just goes to show how well bright colors please my underdeveloped mind. It was cutesy, and it kept moving along which made the time pass pleasantly.

Breaking Bad - Another one that I just couldn't get into. I kept yelling "Kill him already!" and Emiloo requested I watch something else.

Black Books - Just couldn't get into it. I suppose ever since "Sean of the dead" I have hated Dylan Moran.

The Last Mountain - documentary of how big coal removes whole mountains to keep the lights on regardless of who it affects. Watch it sometime if you want to be pissed at coal peeps. Otherwise support wind power for the future.

Monsters - Hmm, aliens accidentally are dropped into the border area between Mexico and the US. Boy there sure seems some double meaning there. I'll ruin it for you if you like, they are giant flashing octopusses...see? Now you don't have to burn 90 minutes on dribble.

Bill Hicks 'Sane Man' - Stage act from 1989 shows Mr Bill coming into his own already laying groundwork for the big time. Gosh I miss his honesty. Not for children or soft adults.

Portlandia - hee hee hee heeeeee. Ok I liked it a bunch, almost all of it and that's saying something. I watched the first season twice so far, they are scheduled for a second season going on now on IFC. Also check the opening credits music by "Washed Out".

Caprica. It was okay. I am through the first season and am enjoying it less. If you are into drama then this would be ok for you.

Battlestar Galactica, the new series. I liked it. I grew up when the original one was current and this one was a bit better. Thank goodness for Netflix as it would have driven me crazy to had to wait for next weeks episode. Thumbs up.

Shaun The Sheep - ok we have really been drawn in to this series, which is a spinoff character from the Wallace and Gromit movies. If you like W&G you will like these shorts. I think we just love anything Aardman Animations and Nick Park does really.

Night on Earth - Well I liked some of it. That's about all I got on this one.

Leaves Of Grass - I like Edward Nortons work in general. I think he has some great films under his belt, but unfortunately not really this one. It was a bit 'put together', or forced connect the dots. I just didn't believe in the characters. That's me and I could be wrong and it's a terrible tragedy.

Roman Polanski 'Wanted and Desired' - I don't know how you think about his life, or what he did, but you have to admit it is a long and twisted tale of brilliance and shadows. If you want to know more about the man and his life, rent this flick. It will be worth it. Kind of makes it hard to continue to think he should be penalized. You decide.

Darwin Awards - If you have ever heard of the jet assisted car, or currently the new fun thing called 'planking' then this might be for you. It was ok, not great, but somewhat entertaining. Many 'man it's good to be me' moments. If you like other people's pain, even stupid peoples, then this is a movie for you. The foreign kid from 'That 70's Show' was in it--where has he been?

Roshomon - Japanes flick from 1957. It has subtitles so be prepared, unless you speak Japanese of course. It illustrates the way mankind has different perspectives and the faith in humanity can be pushed to the brink. It was forward for it's time, but speaks to the same themes we see today. Thumbs up.

The Hangover - I have had more original things fall out of my butthole. To be more exact it would be as if "Dude where's my car" raped "The Batchelor Party" while on Rufinol. Complete waste of time. This is only the second movie I have considered walking out on, and I was at home.

XMEN Origins: Wolverine - Ok it was fine as an action movie and all. I'm still confused how he grew up from a child and then stopped and has been an adult all this time, but it must be due to my lack of general comic book heroes knowledge.

The Lives of Others - a story of the glimmer of hope that existed behind the wall in the GDR before everything changed. Another with subtitles but well worth the attention paid.

A Town Called Panic - Ok, not everyone is going to like this one. It's stop action and the writing I thought was funking hillarious. Beware, it has subtitles so all of you wannabe lazy movie watchers will have to perk up, that or learn Dutch.

TV Funhouse - was supposed to be funny, but glaring similarities with Peewee's playhouse, conan obrien's show and other just not funny enough material made this unwatchable (from a 'I'm watching this for entertainment standpoint'.)

Chinatown - what can I say, it's Chinatown.

The Girl Who Played With Fire - More fun in the sun battling man's innate need to squash others, even if they are your daughter.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Another great set of movies that illustrates how sinister Sweden really is. :P

The Prisoner - I remember this vaguely from my childhood. I think this is where my fear of 'Mister Bubble' comes from.

Fringe, the series. Well, I find it very Eureka-like, and always relying on the crazy scientist, or shady son's underworld connections is getting weary. Damn I am hard to please.

Eat, Pray, Love - Yup, a girl's movie for sure. "I'll be in the cheese cave."

The Cheese Nun - Awesome if you are into cheesemaking, which we are.

Planet Earth - BBC Nature series. Eggcelent.

Blood Into Wine - Tool leadman Maynard Keenen starts a winery. Emiloo found it irritating as an "infomercial for their winery". meh, it was ok.

The Runaways - Story of the seminal all girl rock band that sprouted Joan Jett. I saw JJ in SA at a night club and she puts on a great performance.

Moon - You're the clone. No you're the clone! And it was entertaining too.

Heroes - season 4. This was their last season. It does get confusing following people's 'essence' from body to body. Still, not a bad series if you like supernatural powers and the choices that can be made. "Butterfly man" needs to work on a consistent accent.

Sherlock Holmes - Well I'll tell you, I watched it twice, and fell asleep twice. Maybe it was the sepia like color palette that made me drowsy, or maybe it was the acting.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - The story about Chuck Barris being a CIA hitman. I loved the Gong Show!

What would Jesus buy? - If it was supposed to be funny, I didn't get it. If it was performance art, I didn't like it. Fake comes to mind regardless, don't waste your time.

Rabbit proof fence - Based on a true story. Very decent entertainment, however shows how cruel humans can be to each other in the name of good intent.

Secretary - Is this the last film James Spader was in?

Zombieland - entertaining, Bill Murray was the best part.

Walmart - the high cost of low price - - Yeah boycotting them is correct after all